Get a “Yes” for your Job Promotion Proposal
Many people face challenges advocating for themselves at work, especially when asking for a promotion. Faced with a lack of mentors, under-represented groups specially can be deprived of guidance on how to strategically approach this critical process. To tackle this, I propose a simple and effective 3-step framework. I hope this will help you own your narrative, and get rewarded for your accomplishments!
I came up with this content originally as part of a workshop I ran a few months back. You can download the associated worksheet here as a guide. I’ve been a manager in different companies of varying sizes, and this post represents my own thoughts and not that of any organization I have been or am associated with.
Taking the reins of our career progression in our own hands
Many people feel that it is 100% up to their manager to promote them. Some good managers will actively do that for their reports. However, even the best managers need their reports to actively engage and show interest in their own growth, to put them in a great position to be promoted.
Some of the guidance here can also be applicable to people looking to get a raise. However, I want to specifically focus on the promotion part for a few reasons. 1) I feel that promotions are often very likely to come with an associated raise anyways, so focusing on the bigger goal is good to start with. 2) In my experience, a promotion is very visible internally in a company, and is thus a great way to get wider acceptance and recognition for your work from your peers. 3) Occasionally a promotion can come with a change to a higher title — which can help for positioning (and increased salary) in future jobs.
The 3-step framework
Step 1: Increase your awareness about existing formats
Many people may not realize that all companies have either an explicit or implicit process to handle promotions. Increasing your awareness about these processes and guidelines will be your first step in figuring out the promotion path. Here are some things to understand:
- Framework — Always check to see if there is an existing leveling or promotion guide, or some other department or company guidelines. If there isn’t anything you can easily find, ask your manager and/or HR. Make sure you understand it, and ask questions where you don’t.
- People — Figure out who’s feedback will be included in your promotion packet. These are your potential sponsors for a promotion, who should have regular visibility and a good understanding of your work. Within a team or the larger company, there are often many people outside of the immediate manager that can help guide, teach or support a mentee. Such relationships can be sought out and can yield great results, especially when someone is vulnerable about needing help.
- Timing — Very often, companies have set promotion cycles. Or they might have a specific tenure requirement that individuals would have to align with for a promotion. It makes sense to empower yourself with this information upfront.
Keeping track of these questions can help you stay anchored to critical administrative things, that make the process easier to navigate.
Step 2: Document your growth — regularly and intentionally
Do you tend to regularly document your successes? This is an important step to help remind you to raise relevant things whenever the promotion conversation happens. It’s also much easier to do this pre-work as part of the regular week, rather than just during performance review cycles. Here are a few things you should make note of:
- Scope of Role — Actively think about what business problems your role solves for. How critical is your role for the company to be successful? Answering these questions for yourself can help you stay focussed on the right tasks. Also know that for you, there is a clear value in being promoted. But the business also stands to benefit if your scope of influence grows, specially if you have the proven capacity to effect positive change for the company.
- Experience — Think about your background and how it relates to your current role. This is not just restricted to your educational background, but other experiences that uniquely add to your ability to have impact in your role. It’s always a good idea to make sure these are understood and appreciated by the people who will weigh in on your promotion.
- Impact — This is the most important part! Document your track record of proven impact, if for no other reason than to remind yourself of all the great work you do. Building confidence in your abilities is the first step before you have to convince anyone else. Think of all the tangible ways in which you have done an exemplary job and exceeded your goals. Also document examples where you demonstrated leadership and/or company values. These examples can be submitted as part of your promotion proposal.
- Feedback — Try to consolidate all the feedback you receive in one place. I personally like it in my email — so I maintain a “kudos” folder to flag any positive feedback that comes my way. Not all feedback is written, so I try to document it for myself as often as I can. This practice has helped me remember all the ways people appreciate my work, and also parse through what it is that people find valuable.
- Sponsors — Some companies require formal sponsors that are not part of your management chain to support your promotion. Others, may have a more implicit understanding of senior functional leaders that need to support your work, if not you personally. Regardless of an official process, it’s good to document any people who you are aware of that will support your progress, specially if they are not someone your management might automatically seek input from.
- Performance Review — Ideally, you should regularly seek your manager’s feedback on your performance. This feedback is necessary for you to pivot and adapt as business goals change, or if you need guidance focusing on the highest value tasks. Plenty of managers only share feedback when things are really not great, so it’s best to be more proactive about it from your own side.
- Time in role — It’s unlikely that anyone in their official capacity will ever admit it, but how long you have been in your role matters. There is a much higher bar to make the case for someone who has been in their role for a few months vs years, even if they have been performing at a higher level the whole time.
- Peers — Build an understanding of who would be your peers in your target role or level. This is to help you understand what their performance looks like, and what you can learn from it. You can also gain insights from seeing what kind of work was highlighted for the last few promotions, to see how various things are valued. The work you need to demonstrate may not be exactly the same, but it is helpful to see what skills were used to deliver on that work which you need to emulate.
Some of these things might be static, while the other things should be tracked and updated by you regularly.
Step 3: Get feedback and share your wins
It is extremely important to seek regular feedback from peers, mentors and managers to keep track of your progress.
- Consolidate items from Step 2 into a consumable format.
- Have a trusted friend or mentor review your proposal.
- Present it to your manager with confidence and conviction!
Promotions often tend to come to those that actively seek them, and align with the steps required. With this guide for the 3-step framework, I hope the you have the right tools to take control of their own career growth!
Feel free to share your thoughts and comments! Also, if this framework is helpful, I’d love to get some feedback and celebrate your wins :)
